#AmazonFail

So, it's all over the twitterverse now and loads of people have tweeted about it. Authors, bloggers and tweeple in general have taken this cause straight to their heart.

Jezebel.com is covering the whole story in detail here. Basically, Amazon have decided that they're going to remove the rating from "Adult" literature. This is to protect someone from being offended and seeing something that they shouldn't. I'm not sure who this is supposed to protect, or why Amazon might have decided to change the system that has worked.

One of the things that people are concerned about is that the first two books that appear in a search on Amazon are books about "curing" Homosexuality. Considering that (although some people disagree) a number of reports have shown Young Gay and Bisexual Men have a higher chance of suicidal tendencies, surely one of the world's major book suppliers must take some responsibility to allow the case to be accurately portrayed.

I note in the Jezebel article that it's not just the actual adult books, everything from explicit adult content to coming out advice and yes, even our very own @StephenFry's 'Moab is my Washpot' is affected.

But does it matter to the rest of us? I've heard some people asking. Well yes, it does. If Amazon can decide to arbitrarily censor a whole section of their site, with no explanation and no pattern to the decision making process, what about your books? Will it move to DVDs, maybe computer games? Who decides what is considered Adult? Who decides what is considered Offensive? And when Amazon get away with it without running into opposition, how long before the smaller sites start doing the same?

This is a wholly inappropriate step towards censorship which we must stand up to. I agree that Amazon is a private company, and that it should be able to do business in a way that doesn't cause a detriment to its profits. However it cannot be allowed to discriminate against anyone (even those books that offer to cure homosexuality) or force censorship upon us. So everyone, join the boycott of Amazon.com until they realise that the love that dare not speak its name will speak up if it has to!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A huge thank you to @billt for bringing this to my attention, and for the link to the great AmazonFail image that's found at the top of this article